kids encyclopedia robot

Luigi facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Luigi is a famous video game character created by Nintendo. The well-known game designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, brought him to life. Luigi is the slightly younger, but taller, twin brother of Nintendo's main character, Mario. You can find him in many games from the Mario series, often helping his brother Mario.

Luigi first appeared in the 1983 arcade game Mario Bros. He was the character controlled by the second player. This was also true for games like Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario World. The first game where Luigi was the main character was Super Mario Bros. 2. In more recent games, Luigi often appears in spin-off series like Mario Party and Mario Kart. However, he has been the main hero three times before. First, in the educational game Mario Is Missing! in 1991. Then, in Luigi's Mansion for the Nintendo GameCube in 2001. And again in Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon for the Nintendo 3DS. In these games, Luigi bravely steps up to save Mario. Luigi has also been in all three DiC TV shows based on the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System games.

At first, Luigi was just a copy of Mario but with green colors instead of red. This is called a palette swap. Over time, Luigi gained his own unique personality and style. As his role in the Mario series grew, Luigi became taller and thinner than his brother. Nintendo even called 2013 "The Year of Luigi" to celebrate his 30th anniversary. Many games released that year focused on Luigi, such as Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, Dr. Luigi, and the game pack New Super Luigi U for New Super Mario Bros. U. In Super Mario 3D World, you can even unlock a Luigi version of Mario Bros. called Luigi Bros..

How Luigi Was Created

Luigi's story began in 1982, when the game Donkey Kong was being made. Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto created Mario (who was first called "Jumpman"). Miyamoto hoped to use this character in many future games. He got the idea from the game Joust to make a game where two players could play at the same time. This led to him creating Mario Bros. in 1983. Luigi became Mario's brother and the second player's character. The name Luigi is said to have come from a pizza place called "Mario & Luigi's" near Nintendo of America's office in Redmond, Washington. Miyamoto also noticed that the Japanese word ruiji means "similar," and Luigi was designed to be similar to Mario in size, shape, and gameplay.

In Donkey Kong, Mario was a carpenter. But in Mario Bros., Miyamoto made Mario and Luigi Italian plumbers after a friend suggested it. Because of the computer limits at the time, Luigi's first look was just a simple palette swap of Mario. They looked exactly the same, except for their colors. Luigi's green color became one of his main features in all future games.

After Mario Bros. was a hit, Luigi became even more famous in 1985 with the game Super Mario Bros. Again, he was a palette swap of Mario and the second player's character. The Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 in 1986 (later called Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels in other countries) was the first step in Luigi becoming his own unique character. Even though he still looked like a palette swap, his moves were different. Luigi could now jump higher and farther than Mario, but he was a bit harder to control precisely.

This Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 was thought to be too difficult for American players. So, in 1988, a different game was made for Western players, called Super Mario Bros. 2 (later released in Japan as Super Mario USA). This game helped shape Luigi's modern look. It was based on a Japanese game called Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, but with Mario characters and settings. In this game, the character "Mama" had a high jump, and she became the model for Luigi. This is how he got his taller, thinner look, along with his Mario-style outfit and green color. Luigi had appeared taller than Mario before this. For example, in the 1988 Famicom Disk System game Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally and in a short 1986 anime called Super Mario Bros.: Peach-Hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen!. Official art for Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World also showed Luigi with this new look. Nintendo of Japan didn't change his in-game appearance until the 1992 game Super Mario Kart. Luigi's look from the Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic version of Super Mario Bros. 2 has been used ever since.

Who Voices Luigi?

Just like his appearance, Luigi's voice has changed over the years. In Mario Kart 64, which was the first game to have many voiced characters, some characters had different voices depending on the game's region. In North America and Europe, Luigi had a deep voice, provided by Charles Martinet. He also voices Mario, Wario, Waluigi, and Toadsworth. The Japanese version used a high, falsetto voice, done by Julien Bardakoff. All versions of Mario Party used Bardakoff's high-pitched voice clips from Mario Kart 64. Luigi kept this higher voice in Mario Party 2. In Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, and Mario Party 3, his voice went back to normal.

Since then, in almost all games, Luigi has had a medium-pitched voice. The exceptions are Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Super Smash Bros. Melee. In Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Luigi's voice was the same high voice from the Japanese Mario Kart 64. In Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee, Luigi's voice was made from Mario's voice clips from Super Mario 64, but sped up to sound higher. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he finally got his own medium-pitched voice.

What Luigi Is Like

Luigi is known as Mario's taller, younger brother. He usually wears green clothes with overalls.

  • He is generally happy, but can get sad or scared easily.
  • He owns a haunted mansion, but he is very afraid of ghosts!

Luigi vs. Mario: Differences

Where You Can Play as Luigi

Playable only in two-player mode:

Playable in one-player or two-player mode:

Images for kids

  • MarioLuigi MarioBrosSprites

    The arcade version of Mario Bros., released in 1983, featured Luigi (right) in his first appearance as a palette swap of Mario (left).

  • Luigi vacuum

    Luigi as seen in Luigi's Mansion.

  • Mario and Luigi Paper Jam Luigi

    Luigi as he appears in the Mario and Luigi series.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Luigi para niños

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Luigi Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.